At the present time, if an individual or group goes on an outdoor recreational excursion (for example to a beach, such as for a day of swimming, sunbathing, and similar recreational activities), it is common for them to bring, or rent, a foldable beach umbrella or a folding beach chair. The folding umbrella is used to provide shade on exposed beaches. (The increasing focus on preventing skin cancer is likely to encourage more people to use umbrellas at the beach.) The folding beach chair is used to sit. Additionally, beachgoers frequently bring valuable possessions with them. These may include wallets, house or car keys, cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, etc. These possessions are generally small, valuable and easy targets for theft. Because of the nature of an outdoor recreational area, such as a beach, there are generally no facilities or other resources to secure these valuables. This presents beachgoers with a difficult choice: either one person must remain with the valuables at all times or the valuables must be hidden (in clothing or under other belongings.) This second choice results in many thefts of unattended property as beachgoers leave their valuables and casual thieves remove them.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide, in combination, a locking container suitable for storing valuables while at the outdoor recreational area, such as a beach or a similar location, and an anchoring device which will attach to a folding beach umbrella or folding chair and provide a base for the locking container.